Sunday, May 16, 2010

What era do you think this kitchen is from?

It shouldn't take you long, but check out these photos. I'll give you some time.




The awesome green should give you an idea. I swear, back in the late 60s and early 70s this must have been the color of everything. Why is that? Was there some kind of surplus of green in the pigmentation industry (I just made up that term, but it could be a cool band name).

I thought those bricks on the wall were super cool when I was little. The big problem was they were like 100 grit sandpaper when you rubbed up against them. Me, being a total klutz, did that a lot. Luckily, when we changed over the kitchen to white, the bricks were painted which filled in the pores making them much smoother. You really had to try hard to crape a shoulder on them. Believe me, I tried.

You know what was neat? The little toaster nook between the oven and refrigerator. You could leave the toaster out and nobody would notice. Now my mom has to store it in a drawer so it's not an eye sore.

See that microwave? It wasn't one of the first ever, but it was close. That thing is almost the size of one of the ovens, and it almost cook as quickly. Yes, it was slow. It took me more time to warm up a piece of lasagna in the microwave than it did to cook the whole pan in the oven. Hardly convenient. Also, this was before the era of the rotating base built into the microwave. We actually had a thing called the Micro-go-round that you'd wind up and put it in the microwave so the food could turn, thus cooking the food evenly. Can you image the infomercial in this time for something like that? You have some old lady punching the "open" button on the microwave to turn the food and she'd rip a nail then drop the food on the floor. All while the announcer says you don't have to be such a loser. Just buy this spinning plate.

Holy cow, they still sell these things! I didn't know you can still buy a microwave that doesn't have the turn table in it, except for the commercial microwaves.

Did anyone else have an intercom system in there house. That's the big thing on the wall. We used to mess around on that thing a lot. You could set it up so you could spy on your older sister or brother. Not that I ever did anything like that. Also, it was great for your mom to call you upstairs so you could change the channel on the TV. Unfortunately, it no longer works at my mom's house. And since that was the best way to hear the doorbell ring through the house, she essentially has no doorbell. It's not that the house was so big, it's just the way the thing was wired.

Anyway, I found these pictures at my mom's house and I thought I'd share. I found a bunch there of various rooms before they were fixed up. I think they took 'before' pictures, but I haven't found the 'after' pictures yet. I did find one of me sitting six inches away from our giant console TV though. Hey, it was only 27 inches! It's not like I could sit too far away.



3 comments:

Dreamybee said...

I'll never understand the avocado green craze either-was that really the best color they could come up with? Besides the burnt orange, I mean?

I think your 60's infomercial would also have to include the woman not being able to remember which way she turned the plate last and having to call in her husband to help her figure it out. Poor guy! He's been hard at work all day and now he has to set down his drink and come deal with his ninny of a wife!

Florinda said...

Our microwave (it came with the house we rent) doesn't have a built-in turntable - it's one of those compact ones. I didn't realize how much of a difference those make until I didn't have one!

The house we lived in when I was in high school had an intercom system, and it wasn't that big a house either. I'm not sure why those were so popular in the '70's, and I never knew anyone whose intercoms actually worked.

Your blog is starting to turn into a time machine, you know? But I like it! :-)

Mike said...

Dreamybee: Oh,m we had the burnt orange shag carpeting in the family room. It was great! :)

Hee, yes, that should be in the commercial.

Florinda: Yeah, I was wondering about the smaller ones. At work we have a larger commercial-tyep that doesn't turn. It's a pain.